STILLWATER, Minn. -- With the sale of Croix Oil Co.’s convenience-store assets and wholesale fuel business to two companies, the Ogren family is exiting the c-store business. But it is still in the game.
In late September, the Stillwater, Minn.-based retailer and wholesaler sold all 13 of its company-operated convenience stores to Northern Tier Retail LLC, which does business under the SuperAmerica and Tesoro brands and is a subsidiary of Andeavor. It also sold five dealer and three commissioned sites and approximately 70 supply contracts to D&M Oil LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dubuque, Iowa-based Molo Petroleum LLC.
The companies did not disclose the financial details of the transactions.
“I decided to sell the company because none of my four children were interested in the petroleum business,” Croix Oil President Mark Ogren, whose father John bought the company in 1964, told CSP Daily News. “The timing seemed right as there still seemed to be a strong appetite for a company like mine and the overall economy was still good.”
Ogren and his family are not retiring. “We will continue with our other ventures, which include real-estate-related investments, sports businesses and an enterprise content management software company named OPG-3 Inc.,” he said.
Ogren a is a licensed real-estate broker and still has a diverse real-estate portfolio that includes gas stations he leases to other operators, according to a report by The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. He is also an investor in the new Lora Hotel in downtown Stillwater. His son Scott is involved in the real-estate business.
Ogren became president of the company in 1995. In 2012, he purchased the Mankato MoonDogs, a Northwoods League baseball team, which he sold in 2017. He now is the majority owner of the Sioux Falls Canaries in South Dakota, an independent professional baseball team that plays in the American Baseball Association, said The Pioneer Press in a separate report. He also is part of an investment group that owns the Sioux Falls Stampede hockey team, which plays in the U.S. Hockey League.
Ogren said he is pursuing the purchase of another sports-related venture but did not disclose any details. “I find the sports business to be incredibly enjoyable,” he told the newspaper. “It’s a nice change of pace.”
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